No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This paper evaluates the stock performance of Islamic banks relative to their conventional counterparts during the initial phase of the COVID-19 crisis (from December 31, 2019, to March 31, 2020). Using 426 banks from 48 countries, we find that stock returns of Islamic banks were about 10–13% higher than those of conventional banks after controlling for a host of the bank- and country-level variables. This study explains the Islamic banks’ superior crisis stock performance by exploring the potential role of pre-crisis bank efficiency. In a univariate analysis, we document higher non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) efficiency levels for Islamic banks than conventional banks in the year preceding the COVID-19 crisis. Our multivariate regressions show that the risk-adjusted DEA efficiency scores can explain crisis stock returns for Islamic banks but not conventional banks. The evidence is robust to alternative measures of stock returns, efficiency models, and other empirical strategies. Finally, we present insight on the importance of key bank characteristics in determining the stock returns of conventional banks during the crisis period.

No abstract

This article investigates the real effects of the recent global financial crisis by using industry panel data across 82 countries. We find that industry growth indicators experienced a sharp drop following the crisis. However, a closer inspection indicates that an adverse effect is pronounced in industries that are more dependent on external finance, and also in those industries that rely on trade credit due to underdeveloped financial intermediation. It is also found that low-and lower-middle-income countries tend to experience a lesser impact on growth. These findings provide new evidence of the negative externalities associated with credit-market friction.